Once Upon a Time Season 3 Episode 2 - Bad Intentions
by kindervelter
Summary: In episode 2, "Bad Intentions", the characters find themselves in rather desperate situations: the cloaking spell has failed. Emma, Gold, and Regina are lost in the jungle. Charming is reverting in age. Tamara, Greg, and Henry are chased by a monster. Snow teams up with a mermaid. Soon everyone's wondering the same thing: can Henry be saved when they can hardly save themselves?
1. Chapter 1

Once Upon a Time Season 3 Episode 2 – Bad Intentions

Introduction

"Ariel. My name's Ariel."

Mary Margaret had been through alot in her lives-both of them. Those life experience might have been a source of pride were they not so mundane and completely ridiculous. Yet they were, and as such Mary Margaret barely took a moments pause when she found herself sitting next to a living, breathing, English speaking mermaid. The world truly was a funny place.

"Pleasure to meet you, miss Ariel. And thank you for... for saving my life." Mary Margaret said, a bit awkwardly. The mermaid seemed blissfully oblivious to this, flashing a huge smile full of razor sharp teeth. This unnerved the princess a bit, but she said nothing.

"My pleasure. We're not all like... that." She said sullenly, referencing her kins repeated attempts on Mary Margaret's life. They both laughed nervously as Snow White got to her feet and did a quick physical examination of herself: a few cuts and bruises, a bite here and there. Nothing life threatening.

"It's been lovely to meet you Ariel, but I must be going. I have to get back to my family." Mary Margaret said, finding it more than a little awkward to abandon the mermaid who had saved her life just moments earlier. When no response came she turned and began heading into the forest.

"Stop!" Ariel screamed suddenly. Mary Margaret paused immediately and whipped around to face the girl. She raised an eyebrow to indicate her confusion. "You can't go in there. They'll take you." Ariel said with a whisper.

"Who are they?" Mary Margaret's interest had been sparked. She smelled adventure on the horizon. "The Lost Ones?" Hook had told them a bit about the tribe of murderous and slightly deranged boys who inhabited the island.

"Yes. If they find you, they'll take you back to _him. _If they don't kill you first." There was genuine fear in Ariel's voice, which unsettled Mary Margaret more than a little. She crouched down so that she was at eye level with the mermaid.

"Alright. Forest is out then. But how do I find my family?" Ariel paused for a moment and looked up into the sky.

"I can take you to them. You just have to wait for nightfall."

"What's at nightfall?"

"You'll see. Just trust me. I promise, if you'll give me until then, I will be able to lead you to your family safely."

"And what do you want in return?" Mary Margaret asked, knowing that such help doesn't often come without a heavy price. In answer to this question, Ariel simply smiled.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Regina Mills could hardly believe what had happened to her. How far she'd truly fallen. How much she truly cared. Most of all, however, Regina Mills could hardly believe that she was in the company of both the Dark One and the Savior and wasn't trying to kill either of them. Perhaps having Henry around really had made her go soft.

"Alright, got it." Emma Swan said in reference to the fire that she'd _finally _gotten to start. She'd been going at it for upwards of two hours. Yet, because she appreciated the warmth and the security that having the savior around afforded her, Regina refrained from making any snarky comments.

Perhaps there _were _certain advantages to having the savior as an ally; it didn't do well to have the woman who possessed more magic than Regina and Gold combined as an enemy. Besides which, life was much simpler without having to quarrel with Swan at every turn.

"Lovely, dearie. Not that you've got that done, can we turn our attention to making a plan?" Gold said a bit nastily. Though they didn't appreciate his turn, the two women conceded that, perhaps, a plan wouldn't be such a bad idea.

"We've got to find the Jolly Roger and my parents... and Hook." Emma said decisively. Gold rolled his eyes.

"Yes, thank you love. But how exactly are you planning on getting back to the Jolly Roger when we have no idea where it is?" He had a point, as much as it pained Emma to admit it.

"First thing's first," Regina intercut. "We need to survive the night. If half of what Hook said is true, then in a few hours this forest will be crawling with grubby little boys trying to kill us. I say we rest up now and take turns as look outs tonight." The plan was agreed upon, though Gold found it hard to cope with not knowing, for the first time, what the future held.

He trudged off into the forest alone, leaving the two women once again. Within a few moments, Emma was asleep, and Regina was glad to have the time to herself. There was so much to sort through; so many emotions she hadn't had to deal with in a long time. They hurt, but at the same time it all felt wonderful. Perhaps, and she'd rebelled against the idea for so long that it almost hurt her to think it, but perhaps letting love into her heart wasn't such a bad idea after all.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

It took all three of them four days to move Neal's body to Aurora's former fortress, but eventually they made it. Aurora just hoped it was in time to save his life.

"Now what?" Mulan asked, anxious to see Neal's fate.

"Now we wait. This spell upon this castle should sustain him for a while, but without a cure for his injuries, all hope may be lost." Phillip said, looking down on the man who slumbered where both he and his love had not all that long before.

"You mean, if we can't find medicine, he'll be doomed to spend eternity like... that?" Aurora asked, pointing to Neal. It was a fate she wouldn't wish on her worst enemy: to be trapped in your own mind with no way of escape.

"I'm afraid so. But do not fret over all this yet. Night is falling. For now, let us all get some rest. We'll tend to this man in the morning." Phillip said decisively. He and Aurora headed off into the now abandoned royal palace, leaving Mulan alone with their comatose patient. As she watched them walk off together, hand in hand, her heart broke a little.

Aurora thought the worst punishment was to be under a sleeping curse. But loving someone who doesn't love you back was far worse. What those two were doing to Mulan was far worse. They were breaking her heart day by day, little by little. Thousands of little tortures that drove her mad. And the worst part? She was sticking around and letting it happen. With a huff, Mulan turned to make a security sweep, forcing the tears to stay behind her eyes.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Where are they? What did you do with my family?" Charming was livid. Hook had never seen anyone get so angry so quickly. That was not the only thing weighing on Hook's mind, however. Somehow, Charming had transformed back into acting like a grown man, rather than the little boy he had been.

"Charming. How old are you?" Hook said, disregarding Charming's furious questions. He seemed not to remember that just five moments before he'd been playing with a wooden sword and telling imaginary friends to "walk the plank".

"Thirty-three, you idiot. Now where are they?" Charming responded as though Hook was the biggest idiot in the world.

"You mean you really don't remember?" Hook couldn't help but a chuckle a little at the usually calm, cool, and collected Prince's confusion.

"Remember what? Remember that-" Charming broke off mid-sentence, his eye having been caught by the wooden sword on the ground. He ran over and picked it up, resuming his imaginary game. Somehow, and Hook was at a loss for an explanation as to why, Charming was switching between his adult self and his child self. He agreed with himself to investigate the matter further when he had more time. For the moment, however, he chocked it up to Neverland's finicky magic and resumed his place at the helm, watching the man-child play below him. Secretly, he liked Charming better that way anyway.

Giggling to himself, Hook turned the large wheel in front of him and directed the Jolly Roger into Mermaid Lagoon. His mind was already hard at work on a new plan. A plan that, if seen through to the end, could put Hook in the most powerful position in all Neverland. He liked the sound of that. In fact, he liked it quite a bit.


	2. Chapter 2

**Once Upon a Time Season 3 Episode 2 – Bad Intentions**

Part 1

Ruby Lucas had often prided herself on her ability to cope with her rather awkward way of living: half woman, half wolf. She'd learned a long time ago that it was necessary to keep people at arms length. She'd really only ever let three people get close to her, and she'd ended up eating one of them.

Yet, this being said, Ruby couldn't help but desire to cultivate more meaningful relationships. After all, wasn't she human? At least in a way? Why shouldn't she have friends? At the same time, however, she wondered if relationships were more work than they were worth. Being Belle's friend would soon mean a dangerous journey to a long forgotten land fraught with danger.

Strangely enough though, this wasn't the relationship she found herself fretting over; she was, in fact, more worried about the handsome and often emotionally troubled Dr. Whale. He was one of the few people that she felt "got" her.

But could two such damaged and monstrous people really hope for any sort of meaningful relationship? Between the two of them they had more problems than the entirety of Storybrooke's psych ward (which reminded her that, as the sort-of interrum mayor, she should probably see who Regina had locked down there..). It was just too much for her to figure out at that moment. Thankfully, a knock on her door meant she wouldn't have to.

"Come in." She said, trying to sound official. Since Belle had asked her to become mayor she'd taken up residence in Regina's former house. Power suited her nicely, but she still hadn't abandoned her quest to travel with Belle to the Enchanted Forest. Coincidentally, the aforementioned woman was her caller.

"It's me." Belle said, shutting the door carefully behind her. Ruby stood to greet her and wondered what in the world she could be wanting. She offered Belle a seat across from her at Regina's former desk. "As you know, the spell was a complete failure..." Belle said. Ruby's mind flashed back to the entirely anticlimactic moment of the cloaking spell's failure.

"Yes. I remember. We need the Laestrygonea flower from the Enchanted Forest." Ruby said, clarifying the situation.

"Exactly. That's why I'm here. To get there I need a portal. Something in this world has to have enough power to push through to the other side." Belle said, not believing she herself was saying the words. She was embarking on the kind of absurd adventure she'd only ever read about in books.

"Give me some time. I'll do some searching. Regina's got to have something around here. I'll meet you tonight and we can talk further." Ruby said, feeling truly worried that they might be trapped in Storybrooke. Belle, however, smiled with hope and headed for the door.

"I've got to get ready. What does one pack when going on an adventure?" She asked jokingly. Not waiting for a response, she disappeared through the swinging double doors. Ruby laughed a bit at this before standing and crossing to Regina's cupboards. Something in there had to be able to open a portal. Little did she know, however, that the she already had the very thing she needed to open the portal in her own home...

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Tamara was breathless. She couldn't tell how long they'd been running for, but it felt like hours. Greg was in no better shape; if anything, he was closer to passing out than she was. They needed to escape... and soon.

After tying up Henry, they'd been attacked by a beast. It wasn't something Tamara recognized from her research on Neverland, but she supposed that the limited supply of books in the real world could never account for everything in this new one. Still, it annoyed her to no end that she hadn't been prepared for it. Whatever "it" was.

In any case, they'd barely escaped with their lives. Greg had cut Henry loose from the tree and slung the child over his shoulder. He wasn't all that smart, but he more than made up for it in brute strength. After that they'd run... and they hadn't stopped running.

"Greg, what're we going to do?" Tamara gasped between breaths. She risked a glance at her lover, who looked as though he was about to pass out or die. Not an idyllic situation to say the least. He simply shrugged his shoulders, which was no easy feat considering he was still holding Henry on them.

It was around that time that Tamara remembered that _she _was the smart one. She'd thought up their plan so far. She'd found a way of getting them to Neverland. If she could get all that done and maintain a fake relationship with the world's most boring person (AKA Neal Cassidy), she could most definitely escape whatever was after them.

Pulling on the knowledge that only an extensive history of movie-watching can provide, Tamara thought of all the ways she'd seen people escape danger. They could climb a tree, but that never really ended well. They could keep running, but that was dumb for obvious reasons. That left them with one option, and Tamara wanted to kick herself for not thinking of it sooner.

"Greg, we need to find a body of water. A lake or a river. Something we can swim across to put some distance between us and... whatever it is." She panted this out between breaths, carefully checking over her shoulder. The beast was still too far behind them to see exactly what it was...

Greg nodded that he understood and picked up the pace slightly, with Tamara struggling to keep up; for however thick-headed Greg might have been, he was at least as strong. Tamara just silently hoped that he'd be strong enough to lug the kid around Neverland until they sorted the whole mess out. Actually, the word should have been if... _If _they sorted the whole mess out.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Hook was watching Charming with the kind of obvious fascination one gave to an animal at the zoo. Over the past half hour, he'd watched the man transform twice more between adult and child. Currently, he was the former.

"Listen, Princie, let's have a little talk while we're both adults." Hook said, walking up beside the other man. Charming, still completely unaware of his constant personality switches, gave him an odd look. Hook just waved it off and continued talking. "We need to think of a plan to save your family. Right now, it's all on us."

Hook had decided roughly twenty minutes earlier that, until he could be certain he'd be able to take over Neverland, he'd keep his alliance with Charming and his gang. So far, it was proving a profitable (if not a bit trying) decision.

"Right now we need to keep our focus on finding Henry. That's what everyone would have wanted." Charming said decisively, reverting to the leader he truly was.

"That may be, Charming, but it's going to be a bit hard for this motley crew to save Henry when we're scattered across this blasted land." Hook said, trying to cool his temper. He couldn't stand when people were thick headed, and currently Charming was somewhere between a Jello mold and a concrete wall.

Seeing that Charming wasn't going to budge on this position, Hook tried another tactic: "Fine. If you're not willing to respond to reason, let's at least try to think of a way to save Henry without getting ourselves killed." Charming consented, a bit grudgingly, that this was a fair point.

"All right... I don't suppose you have a map of Neverland lying anywhere around here?" Charming asked, trying to keep his tone even. He didn't really want to get into another fight with Hook.

The pirate captain turned around and disappeared below deck for a few moments, reappearing with a hand drawn map. In one fluid motion he unrolled it over the table the way that only someone with experience could. Charming simply rolled his eyes and looked it over.

"We're right here." Hook said, planting his sharp and curvy hand firmly in the map over the place labeled "Mermaid Lagoon". Compared to the rest of Neverland, it was a rather small area.

It was at this exact moment that Charming first realized just how unprepared they might truly have been. They had no idea where Henry was in this new land. Or, for that matter, who had him. He shared a worried glance with Hook, then looked out over the ocean in front of him. _Well, _he thought, _I guess we're a long way from home..._

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Sitting alone beneath the moonlight, Rumpelstiltskin found himself being haunted by the thought he'd spent the better part of the past week trying to repress: that of his love life, or rather current lack thereof.

He unconsciously found himself wondering what she was doing. Who she was seeing. Was she missing him? Did she cry after he'd left? How long did she stand on that pier before finally going back to town? And, perhaps most importantly, did she still love him? After everything he'd done?

He physically shook his head around with his hands in a feeble attempt to banish the thoughts; thinking like that all the time would drive him mad. So, rather than torture himself with something unanswerable, he turned to something he knew the truth of all too well: his decision to leave her behind.

The trouble was, he couldn't quite decide if he'd done it for her or for himself. On the one hand, having Belle stay was the wise thing to do. Neverland was full of danger and, whether she liked it or not, Belle wasn't well equipped to defend herself. She may well have been killed by a mermaid already had she come.

On the other hand, however, who's to say he didn't keep her there so that she wouldn't stop loving him? Or to have her remember him for who she thought he was? Of one thing he could be certain, and that was that in Neverland he'd have to be the Dark One. To save Henry, he'd need all his resources, and that meant magic.

And then there was the whole business of the Undoing. If the Seer was to be believed, Henry's life would most certainly be the death of Rumple. He'd made his peace with this when he'd decided to get on that boat, but that very well may have been the reason he'd insisted Belle stay behind. He couldn't let her see him die. Not after everything.

He could tell he was now swiftly falling down the rabbit hole of human emotions, so he decided to do to them what he was best at: bury them. Leaning over, he nudged Emma's shoulder. She awoke groggily and moved herself to a sitting position.

"What's up?" She asked, wiping the sleep from her eyes and focusing on the man in front of her.

"Time to switch." He realized his tone was perhaps harsher than he'd intended, so he tried to recover the situation. "I just need an hour. Are you ok with that?" He could hardly believe he was being so polite. Perhaps Belle had changed him more than he thought...

"Sounds good. Get some rest." With that the Dark One laid down and, pushing everything thought of his absent lady love from his mind, promptly fell asleep.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Storybrooke General Hospital hadn't been all that busy since the whole Amnesia business with Belle had ended. After she'd checked out, it had just been the usual stream of people complaining about broken fingers or broken dreams.

It was because of this that Dr. Victor Frankenstein/Dr. Whale often found himself sitting alone in his office with his paperwork and booze. Alcohol had become one of his best friends since the whole near-suicide thing. Ruby Lucas was the only thing keeping him from completely slipping under, but she wasn't visiting that day.

He did, however, have another reason to stay sober that day: he was do for a conference call with some very powerful and mysterious people. People who took things seriously, and would kill for less than showing up a bit drunk to a meeting. With that thought in mind, Whale had decided to forgo the whiskey for that day.

At exactly seven O'clock, his phone rang.

"Hello?" He asked, struggling to keep his voice steady. He was a basketcase on the inside.

"Are you ready?" The voice on the other end asked. Whale pondered the possible answers, and decided to go with the one assumed wouldn't get him killed.

"Soon. Very soon."

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

** Author's Notes: **

** -What did you guys think?**

** -Sorry it's been SO long since I updated. I've got most of the rest of this episode written, so updates will be pretty rapid.**

** -What's the deal with Whale?**

** -Any characters/just general stuff you'd like to see in the future?**

** -What's your favorite character set (in these stories) to follow? What's most enjoyable to read about?**

** -Part 2 coming up very soon!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Once Upon a Time Season 3 Episode 2 – Bad Intentions**

Part 2:

Mary Margaret wasn't exactly sure what she expected to see happen when nightfall rolled around. Fireworks, perhaps... maybe some sort of organized ceremonial mermaid dancing. Anything but what she truly ended up seeing.

"It's time." Ariel announced cryptically at the appointed hour. She pointed to the sky and her finger traced the sun's arc as it descended in the distance. Mary Margaret's eyes followed it for a moment, mesmerized. Then she remembered that mesmerized was the kind of thing that got people killed, so she snapped back to reality.

Ariel was, at that time, floating in a shallow pool in the area where the sea and sand crossed paths. Snow sat herself down just outside of it, waiting for whatever it was that was going to happen to actually happen. She just hoped it would happen soon...

Her prayers were answered when the sun finally descended beneath the horizon. As the last few of it's brilliant rays shot out and disappeared, a different sort of light took their place.

It started in the distance. Just a small, shimmering flit of green against an increasingly dark horizon. Before Mary Margaret's eyes it grew and extended, pushing across the sea towards the couple of women, engulfing the water as it went. An eery singing rose off the water, creating the kind of foreboding mood one might feel when watching a thoroughly predictable horror film. The only difference was, Mary Margaret couldn't quite predict what was going to happen.

She didn't have too long to speculate, however. The green flame that had so completely taken over the sea in front of them was now upon the pair. Mary Margaret held her breath nervously. Ariel grinned excitedly. The glow engulfed them, blinding them for a few moments. Snow thought she could smell something burning, but she couldn't be sure. Perhaps it was -

But then a massive explosion ripped straight through the middle of her thought, sending her sprawling backwards. She smashed hard into the rocky beach, sliding for a few moments before settling. Her vision blurred for a moment from the pain before refocusing, and she could tell her back had been scraped up rather badly.

Sitting up after a long moment, she surveyed the scene. During her confusion, the green light had dissipated. Nothing but the moon illuminated the beach now. The forest appeared to be untouched by the flames, and the water had returned to it's original shade of blue. Finally her eyes whipped around to the small pool she'd been sitting next to with the mermaid Ariel, who was...

Who was no longer a mermaid. In the wake of the incident, Ariel's tail had somehow transformed into human legs. The young woman stood up gleefully and trotted over to Mary Margaret, offering her a hand. The completely bewildered princess accepted it and got to her feet, looking the other woman over. Remarkable.

"Care to tell me what just happened?" Mary Margaret asked, sort of chuckling despite the pain her head was causing her.

"Rather simple, really. Mermaids have the ability to transform into humans by night. But only if we sit at the place where the sand meets the sea. Then, if you're in the right place at the right time, that time being sundown, you get legs." Ariel explained in the way that only a naive sort of girl could, as though it were all just a big game.

"What's the catch?" Mary Margaret asked, sensing that this deal was too good to be true. She was right.

"It only lasts the night. And if I'm not back in the water by sunrise, then..." Ariel trailed off, a seriousness she'd previously lacked creeping into her voice.

"Bad things?" Mary Margaret offered, filling in the last few words. Ariel nodded, and they mutually decided to leave it at that for the time being. They had bigger fish to fry, so to speak.

"Alright then, now that we've dealt with that, what do we do next?" Mary Margaret asked, anxious to change the subject and begin her journey back to her family.

"I know this place well. If your friends have any brains at all, they'll have headed for Mermaid Lagoon." Ariel said, pointing off into the distance. Mary Margaret gestured for her to lead the way, and the two women took off towards whatever disaster was waiting for them next...

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Emma Swan hadn't quite realized that standing guard for the night meant dealing with thirty years worth of repressed emotions... Emotions she had so easily kept buried before coming to Neverland. A part of her wondered if, in some way, the magic there was bringing them to the front of her mind. But that was only a small part. The rest of her was caught up in the world's worst walk through memory lane, with one memory in particular replaying in her mind.

_"I love you."_

_ "I love you too." _Seven words. Seven words, and then he was gone forever. There was just so much she hadn't said. So much she still wanted to, but knew she never could. Because he was gone.

"Neal is gone." She whispered the words aloud, her breath catching in her chest as she did so. It was really the first time she'd ever acknowledged it verbally, and it hurt far more than she expected. In some ways it hurt more than when she had actually lost him, because admitting it yourself finally made it true.

She wished she could hit herself for getting so caught up in it. Who was she fooling? Neal had abandoned her once before, and now he'd done it again. _Don't cry for him. He's not worth it. _Emma repeated it like some sort of mantra on a constant loop in her head, but it did no good.

"Miss Swan, would you like me to take over?" Regina. Great. That woman was quite literally the last person in the world she wanted to have see her cry, and of course they were stuck together. Emma just hoped the darkness would hide her extremely red eyes.

"Yes," Emma's voice quivered slightly. "Thank you, Regina." She cursed herself inwardly for allowing her voice to betray everything she was feeling.

"Are you... Are you alright, Miss Swan?" Regina asked awkwardly. The two women were many things, but friends who poured out their emotions in the middle of the night was not one of them. Emma couldn't help but chuckle a little at the awkwardness of it before answering.

"Yes. I'm fine. Or I will be, at least."

"Well just... let me know if... if you need anything." Regina said. Emma nodded and laid down, allowing the moment to pass without another word between them. There still too much hate to be friends yet. Too many years of anger and revenge. Too much... everything.

Yet, Emma believed-in fact, Emma had to believe-that Regina could still be saved. That maybe, somehow, they could all forgive and forget. That it could all be alright. More than anything, Emma wanted to believe it could all be alright.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

"Mother Superior?" Belle French asked timidly as she made her way into the convent. The Blue Fairy whipped around from her desk and looked at the girl with a somewhat irritated expression. Despite knowing the immense power the woman possessed, Belle couldn't help but laugh at her on occasion: she was more emotionally schizophrenic than the Evil Queen at times.

"What can I help you with, Miss French?" The Fairy-turned-nun asked as she rose from her chair. She was a great deal taller than Belle, which made the shorter woman glad she'd chosen heels.

"Please, call me Belle." She said in her signature sweet tone.

"Alright, Belle, what can I help you with?" The Fairy asked, more than a little annoyed with the smaller woman's sweet and kindly attitude. To Mother Superior she just seemed naïve.

"I need help. The kind of help that only someone who can use magic can give."

"You need me to open a portal so that you can go find the Laestrygonae flower in the Enchanted Forest." Mother Superior said wisely. She'd known Belle would be coming to her for help the second the young woman decided to bring the flower back herself. Unfortunately, the Blue Fairy also knew that there was no way for her to help the young miss French.

"Yes. But I know you can't do it alone." That was true enough. "But, suppose I was able to bring you something that used to open portals, the way Emma and Snow White used the wardrobe ashes…" Belle's love of stories made her naturally privy to all the details of Storybrooke's citizens, and as such she knew the particulars of Emma and Snow's return to Storybrooke. This gave the Blue Fairy pause.

"I suppose that… that might actually work." Mother Superior said, hardly believing it herself. "If you could find something like those wardrobe ashes I might be able to do it." The Fairy said, hope beginning to rise inside her. It just might work after all.

"Oh thank you Mother Supe—or should I say Blue Fairy?" Belle asked with a small giggle.

"Mother Superior suits me just fine." With that Belle French turned and left her office, leaving her once again alone with her thoughts… Which, come to think of it, were quite muddled at that exact moment. So much had transpired in the past few days that she'd had little time to process the town's changes. Chiefly, she was wondering why she cared so much that Belle be able to cast the cloaking spell.

But of course, in her heart, she knew why. Mother Superior felt that, in some way, protecting the town was her duty. A duty that she'd failed miserably at. After all, back in the Enchanted Forest she'd always been there to help those in need. Yet in Storybrooke the job of saving the town fell to a young amnesiac who'd spent the better part of her life locked up.

_That must be it. _ She thought. It was the only possible explanation for her overwhelming willingness to help Belle: in some way, she needed to feel as if she was protecting the town—or at least helping in protecting the town.

But that was perhaps too much for her to process at once, so Mother Superior shoved such thoughts out of her head and turned back to her paperwork.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

_The trouble with waiting for something was that, in that time spent waiting, you are afforded far too many opportunities to think. _That was the thought running through Aurora's head as she waited for Mulan and Philip to return from their hunting expedition which, once again, she'd been left out of.

The worst part of it all was, she wasn't even mad. At least not at Mulan. How could she be after everything the other woman had done for her? Everything she'd sacrificed... No, Philip was the one who deserved her anger. After all, he was the one allowing the love triangle to persist.

But then again, maybe it was all of their faults. As much as Aurora wanted to be with Philip, she knew she couldn't say goodbye to Mulan. They'd been through too much together to let it end like that. But things couldn't really keep going on how they had been either, because sooner or later someone was going to lose it.

So then, maybe Neal was just what they needed. A distraction. Something to shake everything up. And, whether he survived or not, Aurora sensed that his arrival signalled the beginning of another adventure. But was adventure what they needed? Maybe it would just complicate things further. Maybe it would destroy everything. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe.

Aurora suddenly noticed that she was falling far too deeply into that rabbit hole people called emotion, so she did what everyone does in such situations: she promptly climbed out of it, turned her attention to something else, and allowed her thoughts to fester like something rotting beneath a harsh sun. But, as everyone knows, such things soon become too distracting to ignore...

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

** Author's Notes: **

** -What did you guys think?**

** -Reviews are most definitely welcome!**

** -Aurora/Mulan/Philip… working relationship or recipe for disaster?**

** -Any characters/just general stuff you'd like to see in the future?**

** -What's your favorite character set (in these stories) to follow? What's most enjoyable to read about?**

** -Part 3 coming up very soon!**


End file.
